The Neurofibromatosis (NF) Conference has been organized by the Children's Tumor Foundation (CTF) annually since 1985. With its roots in a small workshop-style gathering of a group called the 'NF Consortium'dedicated to cloning the genes underlying the Neurofibromatoses, the NF Conference has grown to a gathering of three hundred NF researchers and clinicians from around the world. This meeting is recognized as the premier annual gathering of international NF researchers and physicians. Major contributors to this growth are the significant advances made in NF research in recent years and, particularly, recent advances into clinical trials and drug therapy development. In addition, state-of-the-art genomic approaches have identified mutations in the NF genes as contributors to numerous types of sporadic cancers, signaling pathways including the Hippo and Ras cascades are implicated in NF, and it is now recognized that mutations in genes along the Ras pathway result in a set of disorders, including NF1, called the "Rasopathies". Traditionally a forum for research information exchange and consensus building, in recent years the NF Conference is also the principal international forum for reporting on the neurofibromatosis preclinical therapeutic pipeline and the expanding arena of neurofibromatosis clinical trials.